This research paper aims to find out how tourism is covered during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic at the beginning of April 2020. Newspapers from Germany (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and the US (New York Times) are assessed from the perspective of sustainability in their tour-ism discourse. First, themes in the tourism coverage are identified with a content analysis to find in what context tourism is discussed. Second, six articles are studied in detail with a critical discourse analysis (CDA) and analyzed towards sustainability from an environmental, social, and economic perspective. Those findings are interpreted from a domestication perspective.Findings show that sustainability is a matter in the tourism discourse in both newspapers but with different emphasis. All three dimensions are part in the discourse in current newspaper coverage, while the synergy between them is not approached sufficiently. This study found that the NYT has little coverage in terms of sustainable tourism. The SZ showed more coverage in that concern and a more critical and detailed weighing of the dimensions. Tourism is mainly covered in connection with the themes of lockdown, business and economy, way less emphasis is put on leisure, charity, and health. Both newspapers are on the way towards sustainable journalism, as the reporting about sustainability. A global outlook to cover sustainable tourism in the news was not found, as tourism is restricted, and the pandemic led to diverse status and political strategies all over the world. The first steps towards sustainable journalism about tourism have been made, but further research especially longitudinal is needed.